THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

Our top picks. Sorry it’s a little Saturday-heavy this week.

THURS, JAN. 21

Darlings, Lonnie Walker, Motel Motel, Gunfight
Union Pool
9:00 PM, TBA, 21+
When I think garage pop in 2010, I immediately think drunk and rowdy, but Darlings are sweet; their songs remind me of early sixties California beachy stuff, except they sing about eviction and TV. Darlings also stand out from other summertimey garage out of Brooklyn because they eschew that veil of fuzz that everyone’s been wearing. Don’t crap out yet if you think they sound too saccharine for you – Darlings let themselves get hoarse-voiced and even a little angry with songs like “If This Is Love,” and the contrast is fun.

SAT, JAN. 23

viBe Songmakers, Christy & Emily, DJ Marcelle & Kid Millions, Pterodactyl
ISSUE Project Room
8:30 PM, $15, ALL AGES
ISSUE Project Room has an awesome program where Brooklyn teenagers learn the skills they need to become successful musicians. Only four to six girls are accepted each year, and Christy & Emily are mentoring this program’s group of girls. They take music lessons, business classes, and video editing courses, besides of course writing and recording their own music, which they’ll be performing. And man, they’re performing alongside quite the lineup!
More on This Week In Shows

SEE IT LIVE
JezebelMusic.com May Feature Show
May 14, 2009 @ Public Assembly

Featuring Miracles of Modern Science w/ Gunfight!, Phil and the Osophers, and Kittens Ablaze

Last Thursday’s Feature Show at Public Assembly, which featured Miracles of Modern Science, along with openers Gunfight!, Phil and the Osophers, and Kittens Ablaze, was rousing, rollicking, and all kinds of rocking. In case you missed it (and, really, you missed out if you did), here are some photos that capture the dynamism of the evening quite well.

[All images copyright 2009 Jen McManus]

Gunfight!

Phil and the Osophers

Kittens Ablaze

Miracles of Modern Science

JEZEBEL MUSIC FEATURE
With openers Gunfight!, Phil and the Osophers, and Kittens Ablaze, Miracles of Modern Science (pictured) will headline JezebelMusic.com’s May FEATURE SHOW tomorrow night, Thursday May 14 at Public Assembly!

If you have not yet downloaded the Miracles of Modern Science EP, which can be accessed FREE of charge on the band’s website, do it now! While you’re listening, go ahead and learn more about MOMS by reading the Feature Article! And then perhaps your most important task is to bring yourself to Public Assembly tomorrow night (Thursday, May 14) for the JezebelMusic.com May Feature Show!

When most people think about string instruments, they might recall the waiting room of their optometrist, or the sleepy chamber music of times long past. Shattering these preconceptions, MOMS uses a mandolin, violin, upright bass, cello, and rock drum kit to craft “some of the most creative, catchy, and purely fun music in New York City.” At a MOMS show, you won’t find a guitar playing singer soaking up the limelight, nor will you hear stringed instruments bowing softly in restrained acquiescence. No! You will witness five extraordinarily talented and inspired music-lovers wearing matching silver spacesuits, digging their spurs deep into high-energy, danceable pop-rock.

For show details, click HERE.

Dan D’Ippolito

JEZEBEL MUSIC FEATURE
With openers Gunfight!, Phil and the Osophers, and Kittens Ablaze, Miracles of Modern Science will headline the May FEATURE SHOW on May 14 at Public Assembly!

Stop everything you’re doing right now (not including reading this!) and direct your web browser HERE, where you will see the bottom half of a very famous face. By clicking on this grizzly jowl, rejoice in the knowledge that you have embarked on the downloading of the FREE Miracles of Modern Science self-titled four-song EP. Seek out the best headphones available, put them on your head, and listen carefully to “MR2,” “Eating Me Alive,” “Luminol,” and “524.” Remain where you are, not checking your email, taking phone calls, or leaving the house until next Thursday, May 14, at which point and time Miracles of Modern Science will infuse these sounds you have come to know so well with lightning and fire: the gift of life. There will be songs! There will be strings! There will be sweaty men in silver spacesuits! There will be miracles of modern science.

For show details, click HERE.

Dan D’Ippolito

JEZEBEL MUSIC FEATURE
The verdant warmth of spring has at last sprung and we’re counting down the days until JezebelMusic.com’s May Feature Artist – Miracles of Modern Science – dazzles and dazes us at the Feature Show at Public Assembly on Thursday, May 14. With openers Gunfight!, Phil and the Osophers, and Kittens Ablaze, Miracles of Modern Science will headline NYC’s most electric and eclectic night of live music.

Where many bands use strings as additional, extraneous instrumentation to fill up the sound of their songs, at the core of Miracles of Modern Science (long for MOMS) are mandolin, upright bass, cello and violin. Along with a drummer and matching silver space suits, MOMS brings its sparkling strings and danceable pop rock creations to the stage at Public Assembly May 14.

For show details, click HERE. See you there!!!

Dan D’Ippolito

FRESH BAKED
in NYC
Gunfight!
Hide Your Empties
2009 | BNS Sessions
A

Gunfight! released their debut album, Hide Your Empties, on BNS Sessions just two weeks ago. And, already, the local press is all over it. From start to finish, all five songs on the EP are in top form. Feeling rootsy, but fresh, the tracks come alive with their own take on what it means to blend country and punk. The lead track, “Empties,” has singer Drew Mintz making accusatory howls in third person, “We know better than you,” disabusing anyone who cares to think they can party harder than the four Bushwick boys. For those with the gall to attempt outdoing these gentlemen over a bottle of whiskey, they might match themselves against “Vaccine,” a sweet bluesy ballad about love, lust, and liver destruction, delivered in a cooing, guttural growl. The final song, “All You Need,” is most damning of all those pretty young heartbreakers – “All I want to do is break your heart/All I want to do is see your heart in two,” Mintz wails over the band’s spastic, yet driving jams.

Whether their picking up a bottle or putting down a pill, there’s no time for interventions on Hide Your Empties, now available digitally through iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Napster and others digital outlets. You can also pick up a physical copy through Cargo Records or directly through BNS Sessions.

And be sure to check out Gunfight!’s characteristically raucous and rowdy live show when they take the stage as part of JezebelMusic.com’s own Feature Show, on Thursday, May 14 at Public Assembly.

by Gordon Sharp

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT NYC
For local Bushwick band Gunfight!,  a melding of modern age histrionic rock with simple heart-breaking narration is key to their ever growing aura, and adds character to the growing canon that defines the current Brooklyn indie-music scene. The members of Gunfight! are New York bred, but the band was formed in Boston in 2006 when members were attending Emerson College. They honed their skill with original drummer Eric Glassman (now of Boston band, This Car Up), in the live settings of many a late-night basement party. And that’s exactly where the heart of Gunfight!’s energy lies – in the urgency and kinetic energy of a live party.
More on Gunfight!